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The answer lies in the bitter experience of 13 years in which Labour tested to destruction its theory that all Britain’s social problems could be cured by the munificence of the state.

Instead, as the subsidies to single parents and the unemployed grew, so too did family breakdown and a jobless underclass for whom dependency has become a way of life.

True, Labour may draw comfort from the survey’s finding that satisfaction with the NHS is at an all-time high (although it would be shocking indeed if the service hadn’t improved after spending on it virtually trebled).

As for the claim that nearly three- quarters think our schools teach basic skills well, this suggests an alarming complacency. Only last week the OECD found a fifth of British 15-year-olds cannot read or add up well enough to meet minimum job requirements.

Jobless underclass: Labour subsidies have meant often it pays people not to work

But one finding of the social attitudes survey will come as little surprise.

In the Thatcher years, only one in ten said they ‘almost never’ trusted British governments to put the national interest first. Today, that figure has quadrupled.

Of course, the expenses scandal was a huge factor in undermining trust in politicians. But it only accelerated a trend that had been evident for decades.

On a huge range of issues — from the expansion of EU powers to uncontrolled immigration, the march of political correctness and the intrusion of the state into every aspect of our lives — there’s been a growing perception that MPs are pursuing an entirely separate agenda from that of the electorate.

This is deeply worrying for our democracy.

As today’s survey shows, public opinion has swung markedly away from a belief in the big tax-and-spend state towards the Thatcherite doctrine of self-reliance.

It remains to be seen whether the Conservative-led Coalition embraces the new public mood.